Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Patricia Altschul attends the opening night of 2019 BravoCon at Hammerstein Ballroom on November 15, 2019 in New York City.
“Southern Charm” star Patricia Altschul has been married three times in her life. Altschul is currently not married. The 81-year-old Bravo TV personality, socialite, philanthropist and art collector’s third husband, Arthur Altschul died in 2002. Before Arthur, Altschul was married to Edward Stitt Fleming and L. Hayes Smith.
Altschul talked about her advice for women when it comes to marriage in an interview with Town & Country Magazine in 2017, saying, “Everybody differs their background and their educational status. You want to end up with someone who is, as I like to say, ‘comparable or better.’ You want somebody comparable to you, if not more elevated in terms of your background and education. I like to be around people who are accomplished because you can learn so much from them. And I think that people also have to consider earning capability, how you want to live, and what your aspirations are. These are all important things that couples should talk about before they get married, but many don’t.”
Altschul has given hints in the past that she is in a relationship and could get married again, saying in 2018 she was engaged to a wealth businessman named only as “Mr. C.” But no recent details about him or their potential nuptials have emerged. Her son, Whitney Sudler-Smith, told The Daily Dish in 2018, “Mom’s mystery gentleman is an established person who works in finance, and he wants to save the Earth.” Altschul added, “There are certain men in society who hold extremely responsible jobs. They do not seek the limelight. In fact, they shun it. My beau is one of those.”
Here’s what you need to know about Patricia Altschul’s husbands:
Patricia Altschul Was Married to L. Hayes Smith From 1962 to 1979
Patricia Altschul married her first husband, Lon Hayes Smith, in 1962, when she was 20, according to The New York Times. They were married from 1962 to 1979. Her son, Whitney, who is the creator and producer of “Southern Charm,” is from her first marriage.
Lon Smith died in August 2021, according to his obituary in The Washington Post. He worked in finance, as an investment banker and financial adviser, according to his obituary. He started his career at Paine Webber and E.F. Hutton and retired in 2004 as senior vice president at Morgan Stanley. He was married to his second wife, Lindsley Wheeler Smith, until his death.
Altschul told Town & Country in 2017 about her first wedding, “When I first got married, my mother said, ‘Do you want a big check or a big wedding?’ and I said that I wanted a big check. Big weddings are a waste of money. I was a bridesmaid at least 10 times after I graduated from college and I saw so much stress and so many arguments. The families fought, the brides and grooms fought. I even saw a mother of a groom go down the aisle and yank all the flowers off the pews just before everybody came into the church for the ceremony because they had argued about that beforehand.”
She added, “I decided that I never wanted a big wedding. I wore a cocktail dress with a hat and a veil to my first wedding. Both my father and my husband’s father had passed, so it was just the two of us with our mothers and the the minister.”
Altschul told The Daily Dish about her relationship with Smith after their divorce, “We’ve always been close. We have always talked. There was never an acrimonious word between us. We still talk. Every once and while we argue who gets Whitney for Christmas, to this day. But it’s always pleasant. He’s a fabulous father, a lovely human being, quite successful, very smart. Whitney’s very close to him.”
Altschul Was Married to Dr. Edward Stitt Fleming From 1989 to 1995
Altschul and her second husband, Dr. Ed Fleming, were married from 1989 to 1995. Fleming, who died in 1997, was the founder and CEO of two private psychiatric care companies, according to his obituary in The Washington Post.
“He founded the Psychiatric Institute of Washington and the Psychiatric Institutes of America in 1969. He was the President and Chief Executive of the private provider of inpatient psychiatric care until he sold the business in 1983. He joined the psychiatry faculty at George Washington University in 1963,” The Washington Post wrote after his death. “A few years later, he founded the Professional Associates, which became one of the largest psychiatric partnerships in the country and is now known as the Metropolitan Psychiatric Group. He served on the clinical faculty at George Washington University until 1983.”
In her 2017 interview with Town & Country, Altschul said, “My second wedding took place on my husband’s motor yacht, and I was married by a trust officer from the bank. I wore a white linen Thierry Mugler suit with deck shoes.”
Altschul Was Married to Arthur Altschul From 1996 to 2002
Arthur Altschul, whom Patricia married in 1996, was an investment banker, art collector and philanthropist. He was her wealthiest husband. According to the New York Times, they lived together in an eight-bedroom Long Island mansion, known as Southerly, “with rose gardens, a swimming pool and a servants’ wing, and an apartment on Fifth Avenue that overlooked the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”
Altschul told Town & Country in 2017, “And my third wedding—a judge married us in my husband’s Fifth Avenue apartment and I wore a pink Chanel dress with a long jacket and Chanel shoes. Our children were there—he had five children and I had Whitney—and then we just had a bunch of friends over for an amazing cake made by Sylvia Weinstock. Those are my wedding extravaganzas story. It’s the antithesis of weddings as you know them. The next time I get married, I want to get married through the drive-through Elvis chapel in Las Vegas.”
According to his obituary in The New York Times, “Mr. Altschul was a general partner in the investment banking firm of Goldman, Sachs & Company from 1959 to 1977 and a limited partner from 1977 to 1999. He was chairman of General American Investors, a closed-end investment concern in which his family has a substantial interest, from 1961 to 1995.”
The Times added, “When he died, he was chairman of the Overbrook Foundation, a charity founded by his parents. It has assets of more than $150 million and makes grants to groups including environmental, human rights and educational organizations. He was also its president from 1981 to 2001.”
Arthur Altschul came from a wealthy family. His father was also an investment banker and founded General Investors Corporation, according to The Times. “He had family connections to the Lehmans, and he moved on to be an an analyst with Lehman Brothers before joining General American Investors for a time and then Goldman Sachs,” the newspaper wrote about the younger Altschul. Along with Patricia, he was survived by five children when he died at the age of 81.